Beschreibung:

BODONI, Giovanni Battista (1740-1813). Epithalamia exoticis linguis reddita . Parma: Ex Regio Typographeo, 1775. A typographic masterpiece, printed in honour of the marriage of Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and Marie Adélaïde Clotilde, sister of Louis XVI. The beautifully printed 'exotic types' include Arabic, Greek, Russian, Phoenician, Coptic, Ethiopian, Etruscan, Turkish, Samaritan, Hebrew, Persian, Tibetan, etc. The roman types are from Bodoni's earlier or 'old style' fonts. Updike thought this 'one of his finest volumes ... really magnificent in its types, their arrangement and the superb engraved decorations' ( Printing Types II, p. 171). Brooks 70a ('Fundamental work. A second Manuale Tipografico '). Large folio (473 x 334mm). Brooks' issue 'a': 28 preliminary leaves, followed by 77 leaves, of which 51 with specimen verses printed in various exotic types, printed on rectos only, and 26 leaves of explanation of the emblems. 139 finely engraved vignettes, headpiece ornaments, tail-pieces and historiated initials by Bossi, Cagnoni, Patrini, Muzzi, Volpato and others after Bossi, E. Ferrari and Muzzi (faint marginal soiling to fo 9, otherwise a clean, crisp copy). Contemporary russia, panelled in gilt (hinges repaired, spine rubbed with repairs to head and tail as well as to corners). Provenance : late 18th-/early19th-century armorial bookplate of the Kings of Sardinia – Caissotti di Chiusano (19th-century inscription on title, perhaps with price).